Court cost concern

Recent reports to Gosford Council on legal costs highlight the dilemma Council faces in dealing with the Land and Environment Court.

In those cases where the appeals against Council decisions were dismissed, we ended up still having to pay substantial court costs.

In one recent case the Court agreed with Council that an application for four units at Terrigal was an overdevelopment of the site Council. Even though we won the case, Council was forced to pay around $24,000 in legal fees.

Council very rarely initiates court action.

Invariably we are taken to court by a developer and then face some very hard choices.

Council can allow unsuitable developments which do not meet Council policies and in many cases will be a blight on the local area for decades to come, or we can refuse the development.

In some cases, refusal means we are forced to defend the matter in court spending scarce ratepayers dollars fighting bad development.

Gosford Council, and many other Councils in NSW, have appealed to the State Government on many occasions to reform the Land and Environment Court.

Currently there is an inquiry under way and I hope that the unfair practices which discriminate against Councils come to an end.

I believe it is an outrageous situation when Council wins case after case and still gets stuck paying thousands of dollars in court costs.

The present system is untenable and needs to be changed and only the State Government can do that.

I can think of a thousand other things which Council could do with the money we are being forced to pay in Land and Environment Court costs even when we win.

Cr Craig Doyle